The United States seizes an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela

BarcelonaThe United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a new escalation against the Nicolás Maduro regime. President Donald Trump confirmed this on Wednesday, telling reporters: "We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela; a big tanker, a very big tanker, the biggest ever seized, in fact. And there are other things going on, so you'll see about that later and I'll talk to other people about it later."

The operation was reportedly led by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to diplomatic sources cited by Reuters, who did not specify the name of the ship or where the interception took place. Bloomberg, on the other hand, reported a "stateless vessel enforcement action" carried out by the Pentagon against a vessel that had recently docked in Venezuela. There are no reports of casualties. This seizure could further hinder Venezuela's oil exports, as other carriers might be even less inclined to load crude for fear of such attacks. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the tanker Skipper was believed to have been seized off the coast of Venezuela early Wednesday. The United States maintains sanctions against this tanker because Washington believes it traded Iranian oil under the name Adisa. The events took place on the same day as the ceremony in Oslo... Awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machadowho did not attend, although he assured that he will arrive in the Norwegian capital in the coming hours.

The Donald Trump administration has increased pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of leading an international drug trafficking network as the alleged leader of the Cartel of the Suns, something that Caracas vehemently denies.

Since September, US forces have destroyed more than twenty vessels allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, extrajudicially killing more than 80 crew members. Trump has promised that attacks on Venezuelan territory will begin "soon," while Maduro has called on his citizens to unite against US threats and enlist in citizen militias.

Threats in Colombia

In addition to attacking the Maduro regime, Trump is also increasing pressure on Colombia. Shortly after announcing the seizure of the oil tanker, the president said that Colombia would be "the next" target in the fight against drug trafficking after Venezuela. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been one of the few leaders to speak out forcefully against the extrajudicial killings carried out by the United States in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, and his exchanges with Trump have been escalating for months.

"I hope he's listening. He'll be next," Trump said, referring to Petro. The US president said that Petro "will have big problems if he doesn't realize" that Colombia is "producing a lot of drugs." "They have factories where they produce cocaine, as you know, and they sell it directly to the United States," he declared. In September, Trump removed Colombia from the list of countries cooperating in the fight against drugs and subsequently sanctioned Petro, whom he accused of being a "drug kingpin." The Colombian president rejected these actions and maintains that his administration's anti-drug policy is appropriate.